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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 378 747 EC 303 644 Anderson, David W.; Overdorf, Marylynn AUTHOR Behavioral Variations among Special Populations. TITLE PUB DATE [911 NOTE 21p. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Behavior Patterns; Emotional Development; *Intelligence; Intelligence Quotient; Interpersonal Competence; Junior High Schools; Junior High School Students; *Learning Disabilities; *Mild Mental Retardation; Resource Room Programs; Social Development; *Student Placement IDENTIFIERS Social Emotional Dimension Scale ABSTRACT This study examined behavioral differences among junior high students enrolled in three special education programs, using the Social-Emotional Dimension Scale (SEDS). The focus of the study was on examining the relationship among measured intelligence, type of placement, and behavior. Subjects were 59 students with learning disabilities or mild mental retardation. Itinerant program students (n=20) received special education services less than 24 percent of the school day, Resource Room Students (n=20) received special education from 25 to 50 percent of the school day, and the Part-Time group (n=19) received such services 51 to 85 percent of the school day. There was a directional trend among the three groups in IQ, with a mean IQ of 99 for Itinerant students, 89 for Resource Room students, and 81 for Part-time students. Overall performance on the SEDS was not found to be significantly related to intelligence. Although there were no significant differences between the Itinerant and Resource Room groups on the SEDS, the Part-Time group was found to be significantly different on several behavioral dimensions and overall performance on the SEDS. Implications of these findings for programming needs are addressed. (Contains 18 references.) (JDD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Mc' or Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORWiTiON CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reprortrced as edhnfrotrn the per son or organization received o Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated tn this Occ u- ment do not necessarily represent official 0E141 position or policy BEHAVIORAL VARIATIONS AMONG SPECIAL POPULATIONS David W. Anderson, Ed.D. Bethel College St. Paul, MN and Marylynn Overdofi, M.Ed. Jersey Shore School District Jersey Shore, PA RUNNING HEAD: Behavioral variations among special populations 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MAT RIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY cd 2 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BEST COPY AVAILABLE INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Behavioral variations among special populations Page 2 ABSTRACT The present investigation examined behavioral differences among 7th, 8th, and 9th grade studer is enrolled ii three special education programs using the Social- Emotional Dimension Scale (SEDS) (Hutton & Roberts, 1986). Placement grouping were Itinerant, Resource Room, and Part-time. The focus of the study was on examining the relationship among measured intelligence, type of placement, and behavior. The primary questions addressed were: (1) What is the correlation between intelligence score and behavior as measured by the SEDS? and (2) What differences in behavior are evidenced on the SEDS between the student groups targeted in this study? Overall performance on the SEDS was not found to be significantly related to intelligence. Although there were no significant differences between the Itinerant and Resource Room groups, the Part-time group was found to be significantly different on several behavioral dimensions and overall performance on the SEDS. Implications of these findings for programming needs are addressed. The usefulness of the SEDS in assessing students with learning disabilities is discussed. 3 Behavioral variations among special populations Page 3 Introduction Determining the appropriate ed]..:;;ational placement for students with disabling conditions requires careful attention to the characteristics of each student. Adherence to the guideline's of PL 94-142 necessitates placement in the least restrictive environment that will enable the most appropriate education for the student, based on a proper identification of the student's level of functioning and the consequent delineation of goals and objectives for the student. That is, placement and instructional decisions are not to be made solely on the basis of the student having been labelled mentally retarded, learning disabled, or emotionally/behaviorally disordered. In many.school systems, this translates into placement of students with special needs into an itinerant program, a resource room program, or a full or part-time special education classroom--a practice which may, in fact, simply be a substitution of program labels for disability labels. The decision as to which placement will provide the most appropriate education in the least restrictive environment for any particular student may often be made subjectively, based primarily on the identified academic strengths and weaknesses of that student. Little or no attention may be given to matching behavioral competencies required in the classroom with those of the student. However, maladaptive classroom behaviors of students with learning disabilities and mild retardation continue to be addressed in the literature. The suggestion has 4 Bithavioral variations among special populations Page 4 been made that students with learning disabilities may experience considerable social-emotional and behavioral problems in addition to their learning difficulties (Bender, 1989; Bender & Golden, 1989; Vaughn, 1985). For example, students with learning disabilities have been reported to spend less time on task and engage in more frequent interactions with the teacher, to be more distractible, to have difficulty making friends and eliciting positive responses from adults, and to exhibit poorer social competence and behavior problems than their non-handicapped peers (Fellers Sc. Saudergas, 1987; Ritter, 1989a; Rychman, 1981; McConaughy & Ritter, 1986). Peer relationships, coping skills, and work habits are judged to be "keys to success in the mainstream environment" (Fad, 1990, p. 41), but peer relationships is one of several areas of weakness that have been noted by regular classroom teachers. There is concern that maladaptive behaviors of students with mildly handicapping condition can interfere with the learning activities af both the student and his classmates. Given the increased emphasis on integration of handicapped and non-handicapped students emanating from the "regular education initiative," this concern carries great significance. The Study The present investigation examined behavioral differences among students enrolled in three special education programs using the Social-Emotional Dimension Scale (SEDS) (Hutton & Roberts, 1986). Two primary issues were addressed: (1) 5 Behavioral variations among special populations Page 5 the correlation between intelligence and behavior, and (2) differences in behavior (evidenced on the SEDS) between the groups of students targeted in this study. Information obtained through this investigation could add to the present knowledge base regarding teachers' perceptions of behavioral deficits of students considered learning disabled and mildly mentally retarded. Behavioral assessment can help determine the appropriateness of classroom placement as well as assist in identifying social-behavioral skills which may need to be addressed in the student's IEP (Trapani, 1990). If the SEDS can discriminate among students in the three placement alternatives considered in this study, routine use of the SEDS may promote more efficient decisions regarding programming and placement recommendations. Subjects The subjects for this study were 59 students who had been identified via district and state approved procedures as having learning disabilities or mild mental retardation. The students attended a public junior high school (approximately 700 total enrollment) in a rural area of central Pennsylvania. Students had been assigned to one of three placement alternatives as part of the multidisciplinary team assessment and program development process: Itinerant (n = 20), Resource Room (n = 20), or Part-time (n= 19). Assignment to a particular instructional grouping was made by a multidisciplinary team following assessment with the 6 Behavioral variations among special populations Page 6 Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (Wechsler, 1974), the Tests of Achievement from the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery--Revised (Woodcock & Johnson, 1989), and a measure of adaptive behavior. The alternative learning environments differ in the amount of time students receive special education services. Students being served through the Itinerant program receive special education services less than 24% of the school day. Those serviced through the Resource Room receive special education from 25% to 50% of the school day. The Part-time program was for those students who require special education services 51% to 85% of the school day. Each group spent the remaining portion of their school day integrated into a mainstream (regular) classroom. As might be expected, there was a directional trend among the three groups in IQ: Itinerant > Resource Room > Part-time, with mean IQs of 99, 89, and 81, respectively. Analysis of variance showed the variation in IQ between the groups to be significant (F = 11.3, p < .001). Tukey's HSD test revealed that the Itinerant group was significantly higher (p < .05) than either the Resource Room or Part-time groups. The latter groups were not found to differ from one another to a significant degree. The Itinerant group (13 males; 7 females) ranged in IQ from 76 to 125. The IQ range for the Resource Room group (14 males; 6 females) was from 73 to 115. IQs for the Part-time group (12 males; 7 females) ranged from 58 to 108. Instrument 7 Behavioral variations among special populations Page 7 The dependent variable in this study was the measure of the students' behavior, as perceived by their respective teachers, on the Social-Emotional Dimensions Scale (Hutton & Roberts, 1986). The Social-Emotional Dimensions Scale (SEDS) is a structured, norm-referenced rating scale for use in identifying students who are behaviorally "at risk;" i.e., students whose behavior may interfere with their education and may require special education services. The 32 items upon which the students are rated represent observable behaviors grouped into the following six dimensions: Avoidance of peer interaction (five items) Aggressive interaction (six items) 2. Avoidance of teacher interaction (five items) 3. Inappropriate behavior (five items) 4. Depressive reaction (four items) 5. PhysicaUfear reaction (seven items) 6. Each item is rated by the observer as "never or rarely," "occasionally," or "frequently." Ray scores are obtained for each dimension, and the total raw score can be converted into a percentile score or a behavior quotient (mean = 100; standard deviation = 15). A behavior quotient of less than 90 indicates that the student is "at risk." Hutton and Roberts (1986) report that the SEDS has adequate reliability and validity for use as a screening instrument to identify potential behavior 8 Behavioral variations among special populations problems in kindergarten through high school students. Test-retest, internal consistency, and inter-rater reliability measures are reported by the test authors are within acceptable limits for using the SEDS as a screening instrument: coefficient alphas exceed the .80 level, and all reliability coefficients are significant at the .01 level or higher. Content, criterion-related, and construct validity are discussed in the manual. The authors report a highly significant (p < .001) correlation of the Walker Problem Identification Checklist (Walker, 1970) and the SEDS (r = .77 to .88) with normally achieving and mildly handicapped students. Research Design This investigation posed the following hypotheses: (1) There is a positive correlation between IQ and behavior as measured on the SEDS--specifically, the lower the measured intelligence, the greater the degree of behavioral problems. (2) Directional differences will be observed in the degree of behavioral problems among the three groups studied: Part-time > Resource Room > Itinerant. The independent variables for this study were the students' measured intelligence and instructional placement. Information regarding these variables was obtained from available school records. Measures on the dependent variable (SEDS) used in subsequent analyses were the raw scores for each behavioral dimension and the overall Behavior Quotient. The research called for correlation analyses to determine the relationship between IQ and placement, and an analysis of variance to examine behavioral differences among the three groups of students. 9 Behavioral variations among special populations Page 9 Procedures for Gathering Data The SEDS rating scales were independently completed by the three special education teachers for each student assigned to their respective instructional setting. The teachers had been with these students for at least one semester prior to completion of the rating scale, affording each teacher ample time to become familiar with the students' typical behavior. After becoming acquainted with the SEDS instrument, the teachers rated each of their students following the instructions provided in the manual. Completed instruments were returned to the researchers for calculation of raw scores for each behavioral dimension and the Behavior Quotient. Results Correlation of I0 and BO: Hypothesis #1 stated there would be a positive correlation between intelligence and behavioral problems as assessed by the SEDS. The obtained correlations of IQ and SEDS dimensions and Behavior Quotient for the total sample are reported in Table 1. The overall Behavior Quotient was not found to be significantly related to intelligence (r = .219, p .09). The only dimension score which was significantly correlated with IQ was Avoidance of Peer Interaction (r = -.334, p =.01), suggesting that students with lower IQs tended to avoid interacting with their peers more than students with higher IQs. The same tendency was found for Avoidance of Teacher Interaction, although the correlation was not significant (r = -.236, p = .07). l0